Agency News

Kids Imagine How Food Additives Look in New Work for Arla

Published on April 28th, 2017

To launch its cheese range in the U.S., and emphasize how it’s free of additives and hormones, Danish dairy brand Arla has created an animated campaign in which it asked kids to be the creative directors.

Agency Carmichael Lynch first asked children what they thought “rBST” and “Xanthan” (ingredients found in some of its competitors’ products) were and to draw what they imagined. The kids had no idea they were food additives/hormones, so drew scary monsters (seen here) and aliens. Animators at Hornet took their ideas and turned them into animated film, with the creative help of the kids themselves (you can see more about how it was done in documentaries about the rBST and Xanthan ads.)

The resulting campaign is adorable, and communicates the message clearly. The two animated spots are part of the brand’s $30m “Live Unprocessed” campaign that also includes print ads, social and digital media and PR efforts. Arla’s current U.S. product line includes cream cheese, sliced cheese and snack cheese, with additional product categories to follow.

“It was an impressive leap of faith on Arla’s part to say, we don’t know what these kids will say, or what stories they’ll come up with, but let’s go for it,” said Carmichael Lynch chief creative officer Marty Senn in a statement. “The whole approach to the project, from everyone involved, felt genuinely unprocessed. Forget what a boardroom of marketing execs thinks about these ingredients. What do kids think? They won’t mince words.”